Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships

The Oxford University Museums AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) commenced in 2016 and offers up to three fully-funded doctoral studentships per year. Oxford's CDP studentship programme is led by Dan Hicks (Pitt Rivers Museum). The scheme operates across the four museums of Oxford University - the Ashmolean, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Each CDP studentship is jointly supervised in partnership between one or more of Oxford University Museums and academics from UK Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The partner HEI administers the studentship, receiving funds from the AHRC for the student’s fees and maintenance in line with a standard AHRC award. In addition to this full studentship award for fees and maintenance, Oxford University Museums provides up to £2,000 per annum per student to cover the costs of travel between the HEI and Oxford, and related costs in carrying out research. Studentships can be based at any UK HEI apart from Oxford University.

The Collaborative Doctoral Studentships will involve research that helps us to develop new perspectives on our collections and to share knowledge more widely and effectively with a range of audiences, while also training a new generation of scholars working between the academic and heritage sectors.

2019 CDP Call for Applicants

Oxford University Museums are delighted to announce four new studentship opportunities for 2019 in partnership with University College London, the University of Leicester and the University of Warwick. Full details of the studentships on offer will be included below (to be updated). We want to encourage the widest range of potential students to study for a CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply for our studentships.

For general enquiries about Oxford University Museums Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships please contact Dr Harriet Warburton, Oxford University Museums Research and Impact Manager at harriet.warburton@glam.ox.ac.uk. For enquiries about specific projects please contact the project supervisors as detailed.

Science in the service of religion? A museum study

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD studentship based at University College London, in collaboration with the University of Oxford History of Science Museum. The successful applicant will undertake a PhD to study astronomical and mathematical instruments in the collection of the History of Science Museum in Oxford, to examine what establishes their identity as ‘Islamic’ or ‘European’ and ask whether alternative labels, groupings and contextualisation(s) might be more appropriate.

The studentship will be jointly supervised by Professor Michael J. Reiss (University College London) and Dr Silke Ackermann (University of Oxford History of Science Museum). This studentship, which is fully funded for three years full-time (or equivalent part-time), with the option of up to six months additional funding for related professional development, will begin on 1 October 2019.

The Iron Age to Roman Transition in Britain from the Perspective of Coin Hoards

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded Ph.D. studentship based at the University of Leicester and the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. This project will explore the later Iron Age in Britain as a period of social change, as clearly evidenced in alterations in technologies and material culture. This is also the period in which the first coins appear, imported from Gallic neighbours across the Channel, and later minted locally across southern Britain; such material provides a major source of information on Iron Age society, trade, religious beliefs, and continental contacts. Many aspects of Iron Age coinage are still poorly understood, but they combine aspects of ‘money’ since they have standardized weight and metal composition; they exhibit complex and localized iconography; and they are generally deposited in careful ways, probably as part of a broad ‘sacrificial’ economy. This PhD studentship will take as its focus this last aspect, examining and interpreting hoards deposited in a time of major cultural change, namely the late Iron Age to Roman transition in Britain.

The successful candidate will hold their studentship at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at Leicester, one of the UK’s leading archaeology departments and a major centre for research in Iron Age and Roman archaeology; he/she will work in partnership with the Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, whose holdings include part of the collection of British Iron Age coins belonging to Sir John Evans, the founding figure of the subject and author of The Coins of the Ancient Britons, (1864) and bequeathed to the Museum by Sir Arthur Evans.

This project will be supervised by Professors Colin Haselgrove and David Mattingly (Leicester) and Professors Chris Howgego and Chris Gosden (Oxford). Subject to standard AHRC eligibility criteria, the studentship will cover tuition fees at home/EU rate and provide a maintenance award at RCUK rates for a maximum of 3 years of full-time doctoral study from 1 October 2019 with the option of up to 6 months additional funding for related professional development.

The evaluation of museum engagement – User Centred Design principles and the development of audience-focussed interpretation

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD studentship based at the University of Warwick, in collaboration with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

The studentship will focus on the translation of product evaluation technologies developed within the fields of manufacturing and engineering to the evaluation of exhibitions, displays and engagement activity within museums and the broader culture and heritage sector. It will examine both traditional ‘glass case’ displays and digital technologies.

To date, very little work has been undertaken on the determination of best practice for a number of emerging technologies that look set to revolutionise the way that museums present their objects and materials to museum visitors. Such technologies, including 3D printing, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), are becoming increasingly common in museums as a novel way of presenting content to visitors, but little research has, to date, taken a rigorous approach to analysing how these technologies influence the museum visitor experience, how welcome they are, and their impact on learning for visitors.

The project thus has the capacity to develop and share best practice in relation to the application of User Centred Design to museum displays and exhibitions, and to ascertain best practice within emerging visualisation technologies.

The studentship will be jointly supervised by Prof. Mark Williams at WMG, The University of Warwick and by Prof. M Paul Smith at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This studentship, which is fully funded for three years full-time (or equivalent part-time), with the option of up to six months additional funding for related professional development, will begin on 1 October 2019.

For full details of the studentship and how to apply please visit

Applications must be received no later than 5pm on Monday 29 April.

Informal enquiries relating to the project can be directed to Prof. Mark Williams at M.Williams.1@warwick.ac.uk. For any other information please contact Dr Harriet Warburton, Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Research and Impact Manager at harriet.warburton@glam.ox.ac.uk

2018 CDP Student Projects at Oxford University Museums

The third round of Oxford University Museums Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships began in October 2018, in partnership with University College London and the University of Leeds. The studentships were awarded to Elaine Charwat and Susan Newell, further details of their research can be found by following the links below:

2017 CDP Student Projects at Oxford University Museums

The second round of Oxford University Museums Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships began in October 2017, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester, and Birkbeck University. The studentships were awarded to Abbey Ellis, Helen Goulston and Beth Hodgett; further details of their research can be found by following the links below:

2016 CDP Student Projects at Oxford University Museums

The first round of Oxford University Museums Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships began in October 2016, in partnership with the University of Warwick and the University of Cambridge. The studentships were awarded to George Green and Emily Roy; further details of their research can be found by following the links below: